


Even the Children Aren't Safe

by babypuffpuffdemon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, De-Aged Keith (Voltron), Gen, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Kid Keith (Voltron), Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23122336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babypuffpuffdemon/pseuds/babypuffpuffdemon
Summary: Inspired by askbabykeef.tumblr.com, a de-aged Keith is by himself when the castleship is infiltrated. With team Voltron mid-battle, no one is aware of the peril Keith is in.“A little help would be nice!” he shouted, making his displeasure clear. Stupid tiny b-- The body that appeared in the doorway wasn’t anyone on team Voltron. They were Galra. Wearing the armor of Zarkon’s army. This was an enemy.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

This battle really hadn’t been different than most of the ones team Voltron had faced since Keith’s...de-aging. With Allura in Blue, that left only Coran and Keith onboard the castelship. And typically, Keith was right with Coran, strapped into a seat in the control room so long as there had been time beforehand to do so. Which meant this wasn’t even the first time Keith had been stuck in his room during a fight. He actually had a stool he used to place his hand on those scanner things but he’d forgotten it in the kitchen after accidentally taking an impromptu nap with Hunk. So Keith busied himself. Clumsy jumping jacks, wobbly yoga, and lots of coloring. Anything to keep himself from thinking about the battle raging on while he was helplessly confined. This immature body was the ultimate prison.

Everything began going off the rails around Keith’s third attempt at recreating this one lizard that liked to bask on the same rock near his shack almost everyday.  _ Wonder if that lizard’s still there.  _ Still musing to himself over the fate of the wild reptile he sometimes referred to as “little guy,” the violent  _ whoosh _ of the doors startled Keith a little. 

“Coran?”

No answer.

Keith couldn’t help it if his immediate response was going into high alert. Padding as softly as he could, Keith grabbed a pillow off the corner of his bed and held it like a shield. While listening intently, Keith quietly thanked himself for throwing a fit several days ago about anyone removing his shoes during naps. It felt safer knowing he wouldn’t have to struggle through the process of using his stupid tiny hands to help shove his stupid tiny feet into the stupid tiny footwear.  _ I hate this stupid tiny body. And I wish I had my knife. _ Keith had probably thought those phrases at least five hundred times today. Shuffling forwards towards the maw of the doorway, Keith thought his favorite phrases again.  _ Make that 501. _

With a deep breath, Keith glanced up and down the hallway quickly before ducking back inside his room. All the rooms in his line of sight had their doors wide open. Keith stood up from his crouched position and shrugged.  _ Coran probably jabbed the wrong buttons or something _ . _ The fight is probably over now, anyways, whi _ \--Keith’s stomach made a surprisingly loud protest for his little form.  _ Oh wow, guess I’m kinda hungry. Maybe Hunk’s in the kitchen and he can get me something to eat. _ With his pillow dragging behind, Keith made his way to the solution to his empty stomach. 

  
The kitchen doors were wide open as well, but annoyingly empty of anyone who could easily make him a bowl of food goo. With the heaviest sigh Keith could muster, he grabbed his stool and pushed it towards the counter where a stack of clean bowls were. Climbing on top of the counter wasn’t exactly difficult (although Keith knew for a fact that Hunk would be shouting about contamination if he were here) but the process of getting back down with a bowl in one hand did add a new level of difficulty to the situation. Fortunately, Keith had done this all before. Dropping the bowl onto the pillow at the foot of the stool, Keith smugly dropped himself feet-first onto his platform before spectacularly tipping forward and smacking the bowl into the air on the way to the ground.  _ Stupid tiny body.  _ 502\. Keith grumbled to himself as he grabbed the clattering bowl in one hand and dragged his stool with the other. “Stupid tiny body can’t do stupid easy things because of stupid f--.” Footsteps. Of course the team had to come in now after Keith had face-planted in the process of getting himself something to eat. “A little help would be nice!” he shouted, making his displeasure clear.  _ Stupid tiny b--  _ The body that appeared in the doorway wasn’t anyone on team Voltron. They were Galra. Wearing the armor of Zarkon’s army. This was an enemy. Keith froze as the galran smiled at him. They started walking towards Keith.  _ Where’smyknifeIdon’thavemyknifeIneedtorunneedtorunneedtoRUN.  _ Keith pushed the stool over and threw his bowl before sprinting behind the counter and clutching his pillow desperately as the unphased galra leered from the opposite side. If anything, the galra soldier seemed delighted in some sick way. But Keith didn’t understand why they were smiling as though they were one play away from winning the grand prize. A sharp inhale and the reality of his situation clicked into place. Keith was the prize.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so, the game begins.

Micthall heard the creature long before catching its scent. The thing had been flailing about in what appeared to be a self-service food area with random objects strewn across the floor. The animal, probably some pathetic stray, clumsily tossed the dish and attempted to hide behind a countertop. While the pet would not provide any entertainment as a challenging prey, Micthall always enjoyed the gleam of pure terror when his victim was cornered. The creature’s large eyes were already wide with fear, it wouldn’t take long before the thing was too terrified to do anything more than tremble in his presence. At the very least, it could serve as a wonderful bargaining chip considering how easily Micthall could break its frail little body.

The creature was now attempting to shield itself with a plush bag. Micthall couldn’t help the chuckle that fell at such a pathetic sight. Clearly the thing was a pet of some sort with such a low intellect. Micthall leapt across the countertop with an exaggerated thump that caused the creature to whimper. _Such a wonderful noise._

“S-stop!”

 _Oh?_ Perhaps the creature wasn’t as behind with evolution as Micthall had thought. _Even better._

“So you are capable of speech, then. You can understand me, correct?”

The creature’s eyes darted from Micthall’s face to the gaping doorway. There was a chance the thing had simply learned to parrot words and didn’t actually comprehend speech. 

“I have no patience for uncooperative prey.”

Micthall’s words garnered a shaky nod from the creature.

“Good. That makes this game a little more simple. You have seven ticks. Now _run_.”


	3. Chapter 3

Keith wanted to scream. He wanted to hurl himself into the arms of Shiro or Coran or whoever could save him. The panic in such a tiny body was like standing on the knife edge of being overwhelmed and shutting down entirely. It wasn’t even a real knife edge. It was a smudged line of chalk on wet asphalt. There wasn’t enough room inside of Keith’s head to even ask “Why--?” or “How--?” His tiny lungs weren’t taking in enough oxygen. He was going to pass out right as the monster would grab him up and take him some place indescribably vile. All Keith wanted was to ball himself into the smallest crevice possible and sob. But he was already so lightheaded and his ankles felt like gelatin while every step felt like his knees were in the process of giving out.  _ I can’t even scream, I can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe, gonna suffocate, can’t breathe _ . Keith wasn’t even sure of what he was looking for any longer. There was no point in trying to find a vent or small opening of any sort after Hunk had any such means of escape welded shut. The door pads were too high up to register his full hand without a boost. Somehow, the doors here were shut properly like Keith’s door should have been. His door should have been keeping monsters out and Keith inside when instead it had lured him to his end.  _ I won’t even have a full-sized coffin.  _

_SNK_.

Suddenly a line across the upper part of his arm was searing with pain. Keith’s feet stuttered and sent him towards the ground. The shock was followed by a scream. His scream. Tears blurred his vision quicker than he thought possible as he looked at the source of the stinging and was met with the sight of glistening red. As though someone had taken a box cutter to the side of his arm, blood was slowly soaking into the fabric of his torn sleeve. Desperately blinking tears to clear his vision, Keith whined like the little child he had been turned into. His body was too soft and inexperienced to truly handle the shock settling into his system. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Had barely processed the deep gash dribbling crimson when the thumping footsteps of his monster became clear.

“Pathetic to think you were taken down by a simple nick, prey. I had hoped giving you the chance to flee would entertain me a little longer. Then again, one shouldn’t have expected much from such a feeble creature.”

The voice was punctuated by the ground disappearing from beneath him without warning as Keith was lifted by his collar. 

“You ought to learn what real pain is.”

The fear felt as though his bones had been filled with ice cold water. Keith’s extremities went numb as the monster brought a serrated blade into view. Then a blur. It was like someone had taken a crowbar to his leg. Like he had been hit really hard. But the moment his brain made the connection between the sudden pain and the knife, Keith was screaming. Screaming like he never had before because he was  _ burning _ . 

He was familiar with the feeling of hovering your hands over an open fire. Seeing how close you can make your hand get to the flames before the heat hurts too much and you whisk it away. But there was no fleeing from the purely white-hot agony engulfing his thigh. 

“That ought to be enough for your presentation, prey.”

The monster’s words hardly made sense to Keith as he panicked to suck in air. His vocal chords were shredded by the screaming but it was nothing in comparison to where he had been  _ stabbed _ . And yes, Keith had been stabbed before his de-aging but his body hadn’t been so soft and sensitive like it was now. There was no gritting his teeth and hissing from movement. He could barely take in air between the sobs that physically hurt to force out. There wasn’t any blinking away the streaming of tears as he disjointedly watched the blurry world moving around him. The monster was heading somewhere but the pain stopped him from caring. Keith almost wished he was dead rather than exist another second enduring this agony. It was practically a blessing when the monster unceremoniously dropped him and the world faded out.

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider visiting https://askbabykeef.tumblr.com/  
> I adore their blog so much and jump whenever I get a notification that they've posted.  
> (Not to mention baby Keef!)


End file.
